


Where the moon is made of gold

by duckmoles



Category: Venom (Movie 2018)
Genre: Abusive Relationships, Angst with a Happy Ending, Developing Relationship, Forced Marriage, Gen, Human Experimentation, Implied/Referenced Dubious Consent, M/M, Multi, Mythical Beings & Creatures, Other, Selkies, Venom’s Opal Eyes, mild body horror
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-13
Updated: 2019-02-13
Packaged: 2019-10-27 05:28:51
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,382
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17760692
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/duckmoles/pseuds/duckmoles
Summary: Eddie dreamed of the sea.(In which Eddie is a selkie without his sealskin, Drake is an asshole, and Venom is still Venom.)





	Where the moon is made of gold

**Author's Note:**

> this was written for a prompt on the Symbrock Squad discord.  
> It might be good to know some selkie mythos. From [this site:](https://www.ancient-origins.net/myths-legends/legends-selkies-hidden-germs-sea-mythology-006409)
> 
>  
> 
> _The Selkie-folk, in the mythology of Orkney and Shetland, are a supernatural race of shape-shifting seal creatures. They are said to be able to shed their seal skin and then take human form. However, it was vital for the Selkie never to lose its seal skin for it was that which gave them the ability to return to their original seal from._
> 
>  
> 
> _Once a Selkie is no longer in possession of his/her skin, the Selkie is under the hold of the human—most often depicted as a forced marriage. Regardless of how happy a Selkie is on land, once a Selkie recovers his/her lost skin, the Selkie immediately returns to the sea without looking back._

Eddie dreamed of the sea.

He dreamed of the warm sand, the sting of the salt, the cool rush of water on his skin, of diving between the rocks to hunt for fish and the soft meaty flesh of squid and octopus. He would swim and swim and swim, splashing and ducking below the waves until the sun was low in the sky and he had to head back to land.

He always woke from those dreams sweating and feeling heavy in his own skin, gasping for air, the weight of gravity too great of a burden to bear.

Drake would wake up sometimes, and the force of his gentleness – “It’s alright,” he’d say, stroking Eddie’s sweat-soaked hair back and pressing kisses to his overheated skin – always had Eddie trembling.

-

Once upon a time, a man walked by the edge of the ocean. He was tall and thin, with dark hair and a suit that spoke of money. His shined leather oxfords dug into the gritty sand. Under his arm, he held an object bound in black cloth. He was a scientist, or so he considered himself to be.

His eyes scanned the horizon, at the ocean waves batting at the shore. The sky was dark that night, the moon waning, the stars covered by clouds. The weather forecast for the following day called for thunder.

A cloud blew over the moon, extinguishing what remaining light there was on the beach. In the darkness, a dark figure slipped out from the water blending in with the murk of the surroundings.

On land, it was much less graceful, dragging itself from the sand onto the rocks, where it disappeared behind a large boulder.

The man held his breath.

A moment later, an altogether different shape emerged: that of a person, tall and broad. Their eyes glowed in the moonlight. Inhuman.

The man let the cloth slip onto the ground. He held his arms out straight in front of him. His aim was true. He pulled the trigger.

There wasn’t a sound as the person dropped onto the sand, save for the relieved exhale of the man.

The man ducked behind the boulder, looking around until he had what he wanted. There was something draped on top of his arm. He looked up at the sky, where a helicopter had come into view.

The next day was stormy.  

-

Drake never told anything to Eddie, but Eddie was smart. Resourceful, even. So when Drake held hushed conferences over the phone or left his laptop open when he went out – Drake made computers, honestly! – it was a simple matter to stay quiet, hidden in the hallway outside the room, and listen in.

“I don’t care what I have to do to get this through to you,” Drake hissed. “Clean up the site. Find it.” He hung up, ending the call with a furious jab at the screen.

Eddie took this moment to walk into the room, keeping his steps audible. “Drake,” he said.

Drake’s face, once contorted into a grotesque mask of anger, smoothed out into something not quite calm, like a rip current – placid and calm on the surface, deadly under the water. He leaned in to give an “Eddie, I’m afraid I can’t make it to our dinner date tonight. Something’s come up in the Foundation.” He glanced back down at his cell phone, which was alight again with notifications. His attention, which had barely been on Eddie in the first place, drifted away.

“It’s too late to cancel the reservation,” Eddie hedged. He needed to get away. He hadn’t left the house in two weeks, and, to his horror, he had actually been _looking forward_ to tonight’s outing, even if it meant he’d have to put up with Drake’s tipsy advances later in the night.

Not looking up from his phone, Drake said, “You can go by yourself. Bring one of your little friends. Annie, yes?”

“Anne,” Eddie said, but Drake turned his head away from Eddie, a clear dismissal. He held the phone up to his ear, wrinkles appearing on his forehead as he listened to whoever was on the other end.

“No, I wasn’t talking to you. I was talking to my husband. Eddie, you remember?” Drake shooed Eddie away.

As soon as Eddie left the room, Drake closed the door behind him. The last thing Eddie heard before his voice faded into vague muffled noises was, “Are the new volunteers still alive?”

Eddie pressed his back onto the wall, his eyes closed. He breathed in and out, steady and deep.

-

The scientists were always so loud whenever they visited, their voices ringing out in the giant house as they argued and debated over whatever they were arguing and debating about.

Eddie didn’t even have to pretend he wasn’t listening with them; he could barely understand every third word that they spoke, only catching names and the occasional preposition.

He was supposed to be fetching refreshments for them (“Thank you, darling”) but when he turned, tray full of cocktails and shitty biscuits and cheese, he ran straight into one of Drake’s head scientists. He set the tray down when he saw her standing at the open doorway.

“I’m here for a cup of coffee,” she said.

Eddie remembered Drake talking about her once – “She’s the brightest mind I have, Eddie. And her kids are a _delight_.” She was not a tall woman, nor was she particularly loud or assertive, but her presence had Eddie shrinking back as she approached.

Her frown, which had been substantial to begin with, deepened at his response. “Mr. Drake,” she said. “I’m Dr. Dora Skirth.”

Eddie cut her off before she could go any further. “It’s Eddie,” he corrected. “Don’t – don’t call me that.”

She cleared her throat. She seemed nervous, that much Eddie could tell, playing with the rings on her fingers and the end of her scarf.

Eddie fiddled with his own ring. It had been a present from Drake the day before their wedding, a gaudy thing with diamonds inset onto gold, rubies and sapphire gems surrounding the main bulk of it. It took Eddie nearly all his willpower to not hurl it away – and hurl, himself – every time he caught it in the corner of his eye.

Dr. Skirth straightened up, looking Eddie straight in his eyes, her nervousness disappearing as she hiked up her courage. “I know what you are.”

Eddie’s breath released in a slow exhale.

“Alright,” he said. “You know what I am.”

If Dr. Skirth was surprised by his nonchalant reaction, it didn’t show on her face. “I need your help,” she said. She pushed a folder into his hands.

“I ran into you while I was going to the bathroom,” Dr. Skirth said.

Eddie tucked the folder into a cabinet full of odd spices and oils, where he was sure Drake wouldn’t even look at. “I ran into you while you were going to the bathroom,” he agreed. “I was bringing out the drinks and we met in the hallway. We exchanged a few words.”

He watched as Dr. Skirth, stiff and face painfully, obviously blank, exited the room, then glanced back at where he had hidden her missives. None of it boded well for him.

-

“You haven’t been eating,” Anne said.

Eddie looked down at his plate, where he had been pushing around his salmon. “It’s been a rough couple of weeks,” he grunted.

Anne looked sympathetic. She always did, ever since Drake had introduced the two of them with a glint in his eye. “My personal lawyer,” Drake had said, slightly smug as if it was something Eddie should be impressed by. “She knows everything. Don’t worry, sweetheart, there are layers and layers of NDAs on her.” And, turning to Anne, he’d said, “This is Eddie. My husband. Treat each other well, hmm?”

Eddie stared at the pink flesh of his fish. He thought back to the contents of Dr. Skirth’s folder, the mutilated bodies carved into with a neat, precise scalpel. The half grown fur covering their faces and torsos, their legs short and feet flat and widened, their faces twisted into ragged expressions of pain. The highlighted words at the top of each file – “Xenobiology Department.”

Eddie put his fork down. “Anne,” he said, “if someone was doing something really, really bad, and you could do something about it but don’t, what does that make you?”

Anne swallowed her mouthful of salad, eyes darting around. She leaned in and asked, “Is this about…Drake?”

Eddie said nothing, swirled his wine around in his glass.

Anne put her hand on his arm. Eddie tried not to lean too closely into the warmth of her hand.

“He’s up to something,” Eddie says. “He always is, but he’s up to something and this time, I think it’s real bad. I have to –” He sucked in a deep breath of air.

“Eddie,” Anne said.

Eddie turned his head away.

“Eddie, I wish I could help,” Anne said. “You know I wish I could.” She was as trapped as him, in some ways.

“I know,” Eddie said.

Eddie could see her laptop poking out from her bag. He licked his lips, dry and cracked. Drake was always telling him to drink more water. “I’d like a nice kiss from my husband,” Drake would say, frowning. “For once, Eddie.”

He took another bite of his salmon, guzzled down some more wine. It all tasted grey, as if the flavor had been sucked out and he was left with nothing but the vague impressions of what it should have tasted like long ago. He didn’t look Anne in the eye. It would be too much of a lie.

At the end of the dinner, they had their pleasantries - Eddie smiled, made some small talk, offered to pay. When Anne’s back was turned, as she was chatting to the waitress, he leaned over, plucked the laptop from its place. He needed it. He needed to confirm for himself. And after he did…

Well. He’d cross that bridge when he came to it.

-

Anne had texted Eddie a dozen times over the course of the evening after their dinner, called a dozen more, increasingly panicked and increasingly angry.

 _I’m going to lose my job_ , one said.

_You’re making a mistake, Eddie._

_I know what you’re doing. I care enough about you to know how much this means to you, but when you’re done, I’d like you to lose my number._

Eddie turned off his phone, his nails digging into the palm of his hand hard enough to hurt. He had hidden the laptop somewhere on the way. He’d return it to her, when this was all over. She deserved at least that much. She’d always been so, so kind to him, even when her job was on the line just for being close to him.

This late at night, the bright LED lights emanating from the building dappled the water. It would confuse the fish that swam close to the shore, slipping from daylight into the night. He wondered if Drake chose this location to spite him, if Drake had done it solely because Eddie would have to stare at the water, constantly confronted with what he could never have again.

He could see scientists and businessmen running through the clear glass bracketed halls. It was a marvel of architecture, steel and glass and concrete dug deep into the cliff-side, cold and unforgiving, even to the crashing waves it towered above.

It was far too easy to simply stride through the door, smiling at the guardsmen and blinking, wide-eyed and innocent, as he asked for “my husband, Carlton? He asked me to meet him in his office. Oh, no, no need to help me, I know where to go.” The halls were empty this time of night, echoing with his every heavy footstep (still not used to the suffocating weight of the air, even after all these years), but Eddie knew better. There were depths hidden in this fantastic, monolithic building.

When his credentials as Carlton’s husband fell short, Eddie slipped into a supply closet. He knew enough about human culture to know how to blend in, to sneak into places uninvited and make himself at home all the same. He’d been doing it ever since he woke up, seal skin gone, in Carlton Drake’s bed.

The lower levels of the Life Foundation building were bathed in a calming blue light. The way the patterns of the light changed and moved, playing with the contours of the curved walls, eerily reminded Eddie of diving through the small caves by the reefs, ducking and weaving through the jagged rocks for hours until he had to resurface for air. It nonetheless had Eddie’s hair standing on end as he walked through the halls, pushing his small janitorial cart ahead of him.

As he traveled deeper into the facility, the air got cooler and quieter. Eddie hadn’t seen a person in over fifteen minutes. He wasn’t even sure what he was looking for, at this point. He figured he’d know when he found it.

The doors to what he assumed to the labs were heavy steel and concrete, dark grey and unforgiving metal. There were lights above each one, bright red. When Eddie tried the handles, they didn’t budge. Some didn’t even have handles, just flat smooth polished steel.

At the end of a long hallway with rooms labeled “Experimental Biology Lab 4” and “Aquatic Mammal Collections Lab,” there was a single glass doorway, through which Eddie could see a huge room, the lights tinting the entire room a foggy shade of blue and green. It seemed to be a huge containment or storage room. It was labeled “Xenobiology,” and above the door, the light was green. The doors opened with a slight hiss as Eddie entered. Dr. Skirth hadn’t lied after all.

The lab was set up so Eddie needed to walk around the corner in order to see anything of use. What he saw –

Eddie stumbled back, tripping over his cart and landing on the floor with a loud crash as the supply cart came down with him. A burst of pain shot up his arm as he landed wrong, his elbow giving out and causing him to collapse onto his back.

“Fuck!” Eddie yelled.

The wide brown eyes of the seal-human hybrid stared at him from the other side of the glass. Her body and torso was nearly entirely seal, thick with blubber, but her feet, though elongated and wide, were still unmistakably, horrifically human. She opened her mouth, revealing sharp fangs. Eddie had seen the pictures, but _this_. Watching her move, swim through the water, clumsy and awkward – he had to stop himself from gagging.

He stumbled to his feet, touching the glass with a hand. She flinched away, swimming to the other side of the small tank.

Eddie shook his head and moved deeper into the room. He passed by maybe a little less than a half dozen other tanks, all with people in similar states and situations. Some were more human than others, but one was almost entirely enveloped in a dark goo-like substance that shifted and changed over their body.

There were lab tables at the back, surgical tools and chemical equipment laid out neatly on top of them. On one lab table, a jar with a strangely flowing black liquid swirled inside.

Eddie ignored it to look at the main table.

“No,” Eddie said, reaching a trembling hand out. “No, no, no, nonono.” He slammed a fist on the table, making the tools shake. A scalpel fell on the floor.

“Fuck!” he yelled, not caring for any attention he might draw at this point. “Fuck,” he said again, quieter, voice shaky. Drake had _promised_ \- he had -

Scraps of fur littered the table, speckled black and white. Indescribably soft. Some lay upside-down, revealing the smooth skin underneath. Even taken apart like this, it was a pattern he’d know anywhere, even while blinded.

It was his sealskin.

It was his sealskin, cut up into pieces and laying lifeless on some scientist’s desk like it was something that they could just play with, stretched and merged with some poor unsuspecting humans to turn them into a perversion of what Eddie was – _had been_. The bile rose in his throat, and this time he couldn’t stop from collapsing onto the floor and retching, nothing coming up but disgust and the deep-seated exhaustion that had Eddie waking up in the middle of the night, dark-eyed and aching.

It would be all worth it in the end, Eddie remembered telling himself on those nights. When Drake had taken him, when he’d woken up heavy and exhausted even while pillowed by the soft fabric of Drake’s bed, Drake had sworn. He’d give the skin back, when he was done with Eddie, and Eddie had held onto that hope. Drake had - he’d - he was a fucking _liar_. And Eddie was the goddamned idiot that should’ve known better. The floor was cold, biting against his bare hands.

**You are hurt.**

Eddie jerked up. What was that?

**It was me.**

It was a voice, definitely. Eddie couldn’t be hearing things now, could he? Not on top of all this.

**To your right.**

Eddie’s head snapped to his side. The only thing was the black liquid inside the glass container.

“Is that,” Eddie said aloud, “is that you?”

The gooey substance climbed up the sides of the glass, then collapsed back down, as if nodding.

 **I can help you** , it said.

“Nothing can help me,” Eddie said bitterly. He already knew his fate; he would never get to feel the water on his fur again, never be able to dive deep or snap oysters apart with his teeth, never feel the warmth of being surrounded by a dozen of his own, never see the sun set on an endless ocean on all sides.

 **I can help you** , it said again. **Look at them. Look at what they have done to them. They are past saving. The same will happen to you, to me. But we can still escape. Just let me out.**

Eddie was insane. He wasn’t going to do this. He was grief-stricken and in shock, and he knew it. It would be - irrational. There was no way he was going to let it out. Eddie took a step in its direction, still hesitant.

 **These people hurt you,**  it said. **They hurt these humans. They hurt me. I can help you. All you need to do is break the glass.**

Eddie moved towards it. His brain felt muddled, broken by the revelations he’d faced that night, and climbing to his feet and walking was like slogging through thick tar. He found himself standing in front of the strange black creature swirling in the jar. He picked it up.

There was the sound of glass shattering, and then there was nothing.

-

It was a blur of breaking glass, the alarms blaring in his ears, and the kaleidoscope of the bright red of the warning lights with the blue lighting.

The clearest memory, the only one that didn’t feel like it came out of a dream, was one of streaking through the water, seeing the underwater world clearer than he ever had, even as a seal, bursting through the surface tension of the waves with a gasp of air and landing on the sand. He hadn’t swam in so long, and the feeling had been exhilarating.

Eddie woke up in bed with the taste of blood on his tongue.

He was alone. Drake wasn’t there; it was just him, completely naked, his hair plastered to his forehead.

He couldn’t remember how he had gotten there. The whole thing couldn't have been a dream, could it? It was too real for that, and Eddie’s entire body ached, as if he had spent the last night running a marathon.

An image rose to the forefront of his mind – carrying a seal-human hybrid in his arms – his arms? His arms were toned a deep black, with muscles he knew he didn’t have. The one he was carrying had closed her eyes, her flippers held close to her body. He shook his head, as if it could clear the image from his mind. What the hell had actually _happened_?

**It wasn’t a dream.**

Eddie startled hard enough to fall out of the bed, his blankets tangling around his legs. “Wha-”

**You don’t remember, Eddie?**

“You’re not – you’re not a dream?”

The thing laughed, voice low and mocking. **I’m real, Eddie**.

A gooey black substance emerged from Eddie’s arm, shaping itself into…a face. A face with large, glimmering eyes, a dripping, almost liquid form, and rows of bright white teeth stretched into a smile. Only its texture and movement was reminiscent of what Eddie had seen behind the glass in that lab.

“What the hell are you?” Eddie asked, gaping.

The smile grew, grotesque and strangely beautiful. The face shifted closer to Eddie’s, opening its jaw to let a long pink tongue drift out.

 **I am Venom** , it said. **And you, Eddie, are mine.**

The door slammed open, and Venom hastily retreated back into Eddie’s arm – god, the thing was _inside his body_.

Drake staggered in through the door. He was dressed as meticulously as ever in a smart suit, but his hair stuck up, a departure from his normal composure, and he had a wild look in his eyes.

“Eddie,” he said when he saw Eddie on the floor, “Eddie, what the fuck are you doing on the floor? Do you know what kind of stress I’ve been under today? And you’re just here in bed. C’mon, up, get up, clean this mess up.”

Eddie stumbled to his feet, almost tripping when he couldn't get the blankets untangled. “Sorry, Drake,” he mumbled.

Drake visibly softened when he saw that Eddie was naked, the tight line of his mouth dropping. His eyes flicked up and down Eddie’s body.

“Were you waiting for me?”

Eddie knew what he was supposed to say here. “Yes,” he said.

 **What are you doing?** The words lanced hot and heavy through Eddie’s brain.

Drake stepped in closer, dropping his phone and wallet on their drawer set. He ran his fingers down Eddie’s arm, right over where Venom had emerged from.

Eddie let him, even though every aspect of his body was screaming for him to run and never come back. _I have to_ , Eddie thinks desperately at Venom, hoping that somehow his hallucination/body-sharing creature could somehow catch his thoughts. _He has my selkie-skin_.

 **Had** , Venom corrected, and now he was practically snarling.

Drake leaned in, brushing his lips against Eddie’s and reaching down to grasp his cock.

At the touch of his fingers on Eddie, Eddie’s hand snapped up, grabbing Drake’s arm out of its own volition.

“What’re you doing?” Eddie yelped, while Drake stared at him with wide, surprised eyes that quickly morphed into anger.

“What am _I_ doing?” Drake asked, voice cold and splintered. “Let go of my arm.”

When Eddie didn’t – or rather, when Eddie tried and Venom didn’t let him, Drake hissed, “You belong to me, Eddie. Or have you forgotten that?”

 **You’re** **_mine_**.

Eddie’s arm snapped back, Drake still in his grasp, flipping Drake over Eddie and sending him crashing onto the floor.

When Eddie looked, Drake was unconscious from the impact, sprawled out inelegantly on the carpet. A trickle of blood ran down his face.

Once again, Eddie felt his body move on its own – or controlled by Venom – as he sprinted out of the room, intothe hallway, down the stairs, and out the front door of the house.

“Venom!” Eddie said. “What the hell was that? You can’t just do that. And I’m _naked_ in _public_.”

He felt Venom spread out across his chest and legs until he looked down to find not his naked form but rather what looked to be black leather pants, a tight t-shirt, and black boots.

 **We** **_can_ ** **do that,**  Venom said. **And we did**.

“You almost killed him!” Eddie said.

**You don’t like him.**

“I don’t have to like him,” Eddie says. “I don’t have a choice. He has – he has my sealskin.”

Venom manifested again, a small blob of eyes and razor-sharp teeth at Eddie’s shoulder. **What does that mean?**

Eddie flinched involuntarily. He’d never given this talk before. Drake had known, and so had Anne by extension, and there had been no one else. “It means that I’m married to him, and it means that I have to stay with him. It means that -” Eddie took in a deep breath of air. “It means that I can’t go home. And that I don’t have anything else. We have to go back to Drake, Venom.” Never mind what Drake would do to him when he woke up.

**No.**

“What do you mean, ‘no’?”

**Saw what they did to your…sealskin, Eddie. Chopped it up, merged it with my own kin to create those abominations of symbiosis. Not his anymore. Doesn’t have that hold over you anymore.**

Eddie breathed in deep, feeling pressure build behind his eyes. He wasn't going to cry. He focused on the movement of his feet, the hard pavement that he could feel even through Venom. “And it’s not mine,” he said.

Pieces of fur and skin, a scalpel on a table. The low blue light of the lab.

 **No**.

He didn’t know what he could do now.

Even when he was Drake’s, he could still dream. Dream of one day finding his sealskin hidden somewhere in the walls or a hidden crevice, running to the beach and diving in, feeling the transformation upon him as he slipped from man to seal. He could still be a selkie.

But now…

He wasn’t a selkie anymore, not without a sealskin. And that meant that Drake didn’t have him anymore, but he had already been living with Drake for years now. He didn’t know how to function as a person outside of him. There was nowhere he could go, no one he could turn to.

Venom curled around his arm. Venom was looking around, tongue flicking in and out like a snake’s, as if to taste the air and scan for any possible threats.

Even when he was a seal he always had a place, always knew where he stood in the world. The entire ocean was his home, and he was free to roam as he pleased. The memory of the past night flickered to the forefront of his thoughts again.

“Venom,” Eddie said, “what happened to the people we rescued last night?”

Venom turned to Eddie, mouth spreading wide open once again in a grin. **Will show you, Eddie.**

-

Eddie felt like he should be disgusted, but he wasn’t.

The human-seal hybrids surrounded him, barking at each other and to him. One of them, the one most human, could even speak, although in short, jilted sentences.

“Water. Feels nice,” she said, although so distorted Eddie could barely make out her words.

Venom still acted as clothes for Eddie, but his feet were bare, and he could feel the soft sand beneath his toes.

“It does, doesn’t it,” Eddie said. The scent of the saltwater was calming, gentle. He watched as the hybrids – chimeras, because what else could they be? – interacted with each other, chattering and exploring each other’s strange new forms.

In a way, they were lucky. No matter how grotesque their bodies, they had each other, a ragtag misfit group all stuck in the same boat together. Eddie didn’t know how much of their minds they kept, but they seemed aware and happy enough.

 **They achieved complete symbiosis,**  Venom said. **Perverted version, but their minds and bodies are fully melded now.**

“Are we…” Eddie trailed off, unsure of how to finish the sentence.

**Not in the same way. We are bonded, but not combined.**

Eddie nodded, turning back to watch the chimeras chatter at each other on the rocks. One of them, the first one he had seen last night, ducked into the water as the tide rose.

A memory drifted up – the feeling of swimming, beating powerful legs that weren’t his own through the brine, the blaring of the alarms muffled by the water as they swam out the seawater outtake pipe from the Life Foundation and urged the hybrids up ahead into a cove where they could hide until the speedboats passed. The water, deep black and churning above him.

“Venom,” Eddie said, “last night – did we swim?”

 **Yes** , Venom said, and Eddie would swear that Venom was purring when he spoke next. **Do you want to swim again?**

 _Yes_ , Eddie thought desperately. _Yes, please, I’d give anything_. It had been years since he’d even tried, still remembering the pain that nearly had him passing out as he’d tried to enter the saltwater a few weeks after Drake had him.

He didn’t know if Venom could hear his thoughts, but Eddie was practically shaking at the chance to swim again, duck and dive through the water the way he’d been doing since he was born. Venom must’ve felt that, because slowly, Eddie watched as his hands and legs were entirely covered by the black goo that was Venom. Another moment, and Eddie felt his entire face being enveloped.

He stood – Venom stood for him – and they ambled to the edge of the sea.

They looked down at their reflection.

Eddie felt like he should be horrified at it, at the way their eyes shifted and changed, at the white veins that pulsated when they moved, but he only felt a quiet calm. The eyes glimmered, reflecting pale pinks and blues, reminding Eddie of the pearls he’d find sometimes, hidden treasures buried in the mouth of an oyster.

“You look beautiful,” Eddie said aloud. It was strange, to be sure, listening to his own voice without seeing his mouth move, but not as disturbing as he thought it should be.

 **We** , Venom corrected. The rows of sharp teeth opened, revealing a bright pink tongue that curled outwards. **That’s us, Eddie. We look beautiful**.

The tide rose higher, covering their feet. Eddie took a step forward, surprised when their legs moved.

Venom must have sensed his surprise at being able to control their body. **Do this together, Eddie.**

They waded in slowly, the water lapping at their ankles, the sand giving way under their feet as the tide came in and out.

The faux-selkies suddenly paused in their conversations and play, heads held high up to the sky.

Venom did the same, freezing in place, tongue flicking outwards as he stared up at the clear blue sky. Not a single cloud in the air to mar the picture.

“Venom?”

 **Quiet**.

“Venom, what’s going on?”

In the distance, however, with the enhanced hearing that Venom gave them, Eddie could already hear it coming.

 **“Everyone in the water!”** Eddie and Venom yelled, as one.

When the hybrids simply stared, wide-eyed and uncomprehending and probably fucking terrified, Venom dragged the two of them out of the water and back onto dry sand, running over to the nearest one, the one that was almost completely seal. They hefted her up and tossed her into the water, as gently as they could but nearly panicking now.

When she swam away, the rest followed, one after another. Just as the last one ducked his head under the water, the chopper came into view, flying over the cliffs and heading straight for them.

Venom’s first instinct was to dive into the water. As he started moving their body, Eddie jerked them back.

“No!” Eddie said. “Drake’s seen us, he’ll follow us. We can’t go into the water.”

 **Into the city**.

They moved as one, running and leaping in the opposite direction of the beach, over the cliff side and into the nearby shrubbery, which gave way into heavier, denser forests, the steady roar of the helicopter following them.

 **Need to hide** , Venom growled.

Eddie never got out much, not in the years that he’d been with Drake. He’d lived in Drake’s lavish mansion the entire time, secluded away with only himself and whoever Drake deigned to let him meet. There was little reprieve – even now, Drake’s presence followed him. No matter where he went, Eddie knew, Drake would never leave him.

“I might know a place,” Eddie said.

-

“So what are you?” Eddie asked, breaking the silence that had held ever since Eddie had explained where they were going and what public transportation was.

**Klyntar.**

“Klyntar?”

**My species. And where I come from. Like your home.**

Eddie closed his eyes, thinking to Drake’s mansion, its cold, bleak interior. “Can’t be much of a home, then.”

**Not like Drake.**

A flash of memory – warmth, darkness, curling around his fellow symbiotes as they vied for nutrients, chemicals. The harsh glow of the sun piercing through the thick atmosphere, like sunlight shining through water.

 **Klyntar** , Venom repeated. He sounded proud.

“Are you going to go back?”

Venom didn’t reply for a long time. **Miss it,** he said finally. **But I’m here now. With you. You freed me.**

The bus they were on lurched to a stop, causing Eddie to stumble forward. The fluttery feeling in his stomach must have been just that. Venom caught them just in time, steadying their stance.

“Thank you,” Eddie said, to Venom and then the bus driver as he stepped off onto the street.

Eddie had been to Anne’s house twice, each time after Drake had pawned him off after a benefit or fundraiser or something. She had always been so kind each time.

When Eddie knocked, he didn’t know what to expect. He had hurt Anne, had done it on purpose, and she had every right to shut the door in his face. He was just hoping she didn’t.

Anne hurtled out, wrapping her arms around Eddie’s shoulders.

“I thought you were dead!”

Eddie flinched back. Venom shot out of his stomach, sensing his sudden burst of panic and pushing Anne back in response.

Anne dropped her hands to her sides immediately, though she leaned forward as if to get closer to Eddie.

She gestured to the still open door. “Eddie, come in, _please_.”

When the door closed behind them, she asked, “What did you _do_?”

Eddie closed his eyes. “Your laptop is safe. I left it hidden in the library by your place.” When he reopened his eyes, Anne was staring at him with an expression like shock, though it was laced with a tinge of something unfamiliar.

“Eddie, my god,” she said, “I don’t care about the laptop. Well, I do, just –“ She broke off, running her fingers through her hair and pushing it back from her face. “What did you _do_?”

Eddie suddenly felt exhausted and very, very parched. “Can I have a glass of water? And some clothes?”

By the time Eddie had put on Anne’s boyfriend’s clothes, drank four glasses of water, and Anne had started heating up some leftovers, Eddie was able to explain what he had done. He wasn’t sure if she entirely believed him, not until Venom made an appearance, causing her to startle and almost drop a plate of spaghetti.

“And he’s an _alien_?”

 **“Yes,”** Venom said aloud, causing Anne to nearly jump again.

Anne brushed her hair back again, her laugh strained. “You two are a pair.”

Eddie felt his stomach flip.

“I guess,” he said into his glass of water.

 **She cares for you** , Venom noted to Eddie.

Anne sat down across from Eddie. “So,” she said once Eddie was digging into his food, “what’re we going to do about Drake? He’s hunting you down, and you know he won’t stop until he gets what he wants.”

Eddie swallowed. “You’re not doing anything,” he said. “It’s a me problem.”

**Us.**

“It’s a me and Venom problem. I can’t drag you into this.”

Anne didn’t bat an eye. “You dragged me into this the moment you stole my laptop and used its contents to break into the Life Foundation. I dragged _myself_ into this the moment I met Drake. I’m as at fault as he is.”

**I like her.**

Anne leaned in, arms crossed on the table. “So what’re we going to do?”

**Eat him.**

“No!”

“What?” Anne stared at him, wide-eyed and startled from his outburst.

Eddie shook his head. “No, we’re not going – we’re not going to eat him, god.”

**Saw what he did. Deserves to be eaten, Eddie.**

“Is Venom talking to you? He wants to _eat_ Drake?”

Eddie sighed. Another memory rose up, one he wasn’t aware he even had: swimming through the dark waters, smelling the scent of fresh blood, the taste of fish flesh between their teeth.

 _You’re a predator,_  he thought.

 **Must survive, Eddie. How** **_I_ ** **survive.**

“Let’s shelve that solution,” Eddie said aloud, more for Anne’s benefit than anything else.

“I agree,” Anne said. “But if we don’t have anything else, it might be our only option. You’re...you’re right, Eddie. We can’t let him keep doing this. I can’t.”

“No,” Eddie said, mind flashing to those they’d rescued last night, “we can’t. And we can’t – I don’t want to expose him. They’d never leave his victims alone. I can’t let that happen to them.”

Anne’s eyes darted back and forth. “I might,” she said, “be able to dig up some stuff. Not related to this. Find some people willing to help. I think we might have a solid case.”

Eddie stared down at his spaghetti. “Maybe,” he said.

**Still think we should eat him.**

“Jesus, Venom,” Eddie breathed. “We’re not eating him.”

**Just a thought.**

Anne stared at them. “You two might want to talk about this.”

“Maybe,” Eddie said again. Then, “Anne, I know it’s a lot to ask, but can I stay for the night?”

“Of course,” Anne said immediately. Perhaps seeing something in his face, in his silent expression, Anne moved in front of him, said, “Eddie, for god’s sake, look at me.”

Eddie did.

Her face was stern, from the stress of it all maybe, mouth set tight, but her eyes were soft.

“I’m” -she shook her head- “I’m still angry with you. Don’t think that I’m not. But I’m angry at you because I want to keep you safe. I want to help. I’m the one who did nothing. I stood by, knowing what Drake had done to you and being afraid to stop it, knowing about his unethical lab experiments and not raising a complaint. I want to help, Eddie. It’d be the only way I can make up for being - for being complicit.”

Anne was – god. In another world, Eddie would have willingly given up the sea for her. In another world, they would be happily living together by the beach, walking side by side as they dug their toes into the sand, finding shells and looking for small tide pool creatures. Maybe Eddie would have slipped on his sealskin once or twice, sunbathing with her smoothing her fingers across his body, but he would’ve come back to her at the end of the day.

In this world, Eddie stayed in Anne’s guest room wearing Anne’s boyfriend’s clothes, with an alien creature with a taste for flesh wrapped around his organs, the presence of Carlton Drake hovering over them.

They were in the bathroom, Eddie having just finished brushing his teeth. Eddie stared at himself in the mirror. Two days ago, he was dressed in the most expensive pajamas Drake’s money could buy – which was very expensive indeed – and now he was staring at his reflection in a water-stained mirror, dark bags underneath his eyes and his lips set tight and thin. His face was still slightly wet.

**Hurt.**

Eddie looked down at Venom, curling out from underneath a worn sleeve. “No,” Eddie said. “I’m not hurt. Just… tired. ”

**Tired.**

“Yeah,” Eddie said. “You don’t – you don’t get tired?”

Venom seemed to contemplate this. **Klyntar become hungry. When we are hungry, we find food. Without food, we starve. We do not…** Eddie felt Venom rifling through his memories as images popped up in his head – falling asleep on the couch after a movie, listening in the dark to the sound of Drake snoring beside him, floating in the water as he drifted. **Sleep.**

“Huh,” Eddie said. “And…the food thing?”

 **The food thing,** Venom replied promptly. **Need to feed. Not vegetables, or spaghetti. Meat.** **_Live_** **.**

Had they eaten last night? Would Venom have to feed again soon? Where the hell was Eddie going to find something for Venom to eat?

 **Creatures in the water** , Venom said. **A feast.** His tongue snaked out, as if licking his lips. **Will be able to last for a long while.**

Eddie breathed in and out. Like this, alone and with a moment of peace and quiet, the gravity of his situation was almost suffocating. There was an alien in his body. There was an alien in his body who was willing to eat humans, and the only reason he hadn’t was because while running from Eddie’s husband they had also eaten a lot of fish. Jesus.

As if sensing Eddie’s discomfort, Venom made himself larger, seeping out from Eddie’s body and forming himself into something big enough to wrap around Eddie’s hand. Eddie stiffened. Drake didn’t – Drake would never dare touch him like that. Eddie wouldn’t _let_ Drake touch him like that. He had that much dignity left.

Venom wound tighter, not quite tight enough to hurt. Just tight enough for Eddie to be aware of his presence, steady and strong.

 **Tired,**  Venom said, his usually rough voice low and soothing. **Should rest.**

Eddie bent down, splashed his face with water again. “Right. Long day ahead, Venom.”

They settled down into bed, blankets piled high on top of them. Venom had emerged more fully, settling into something like a more solid form.

Eddie was used to sleeping with someone next to him. He had done it nearly every night for years on end. And yet…this was something different.

Venom didn’t speak. In fact, Venom didn’t make a single noise at all. Instead, he seemed to be watching Eddie, ever shifting eyes somehow inexplicably focused on Eddie’s face and body.

“God,” Eddie said, breaking the silence, “Venom, what are you doing?”

Venom’s mouth opened slightly, revealing his rows and rows of teeth. He cocked his head, like – like a puppy. **I don’t sleep. And I’ve never had a human host.**

Protests bubbled up in Eddie’s throat, the foremost being a _“But I’m not human,”_ but they died down just as quickly as he realized that yes, he was now. Human just like the rest of them. Like Anne. Like Drake. He swallowed. “So, you’re doing what?”

**Learning. Observing.**

And the thing was – Eddie had been _observed_ before. It was the first thing Drake had done, right after stealing his entire life from him. But Venom had been a test subject too. He had been cut apart with no hope of being put back together. He wasn’t malicious. Venom wanted to...

Venom wanted to understand.

Eddie felt something warm deep in his chest. It might have just been the stresses of the day, even though he’d never felt calmer in this moment. “Alright,” he said. “Well, don’t wake me up with your observing. Good night, Venom.”

Venom was quiet for a long time. Before Eddie drifted off, he felt a tendril trailing up his chest, caressing his face. **Good night, Eddie.**

-

In the morning, Eddie made eggs and toast for Anne while bargaining with Venom for him to not eat the whole carton before Eddie could cook it.

They sat around the kitchen table together, quiet save for the clinking of the forks clattering against the plates, the mugs of coffee clunking against the table. Domestic, in a way that Eddie had only seen on terrible daytime television.

Anne laid out her plan, short and succinct. Eddie and Venom would stay at Anne’s place and she would help gather evidence against Drake until they would be able to bring him down. Easy. Simple.

“You’ll have to lay low,” she said. “I heard Drake’s people were coming around to all the high level employees to clear them.”

Venom crunched down eggshells as she spoke.

When she was done, Eddie took a deep breath. “Anne,” he said. “We can’t stay here.”

Anne stared at him.

“Why not?” she asked.

“Drake’s people - you just said they’re looking for us,” Eddie said. “It would be - irresponsible.”

“Where will you stay?”

Eddie shrugged. “We can - we’ll figure it out.”

“God, Eddie, he’s probably combing the streets. It’ll be more unsafe out there than in here could ever be.”

“I know that, Anne, and-”

 **Eddie** , Venom spoke up suddenly, letting through a burst of panic. **You’re right.** **Need to leave.**

“What?”

“You can’t leave, Eddie, that’s what’s irresponsible. You have to-”

There was a knock on the door. “Miss Weying?”

“ _Fuck,_ ” Anne breathed. “I didn’t think they’d be here so soon. Eddie, go into the bathroom. Do _not_ leave. I’ll stall.”

 **Need to** **_get out._**

Eddie ran into Anne’s bathroom, keeping his steps as quiet as possible.

“Who is it?” Anne called out, voice muffled from the door.

“We’re from the Life Foundation.”

**Open the window. Get out.**

Eddie clambered over to the window. _It’s locked_ , he thought.

“As we’re sure you’ve heard, there’s been a little security breach. Mr. Drake would just like to check up on all his employees who have access to high level data.”

Venom covered his hands, turning his fingertips into sharp black claws. He hit the lock – once, twice – before it broke with a quiet snap.

“Oh!” they heard from the other room. “Of course, take a look around.”

Eddie slid the glass of the window far enough up so that he could fit through. They were at least ten feet up from the sidewalk. “We can’t just jump out.”

He felt Venom covering him again, taking over. **We’re going to.**

And then they were flying through the air, above the street, from Anne’s two-story bathroom to the roof across the way. Eddie didn’t even have enough time to panic before they landed with a heavy thud on the opposite building.

“We need to close Anne’s window,” Eddie said. “If they’re looking through the house–“

A tendril shot out of their back, sliding Anne’s window back shut.

**Need to run.**

“We can’t – not like this, we’re too obvious.”

Venom flung them into an empty alley behind a dumpster, melting back into Eddie’s body.

Eddie stood, trying to catch his breath and think past the lingering panic. “We can’t go back, it’s not safe.”

**Where can we go?**

Eddie sucked in a deep breath of air. “No one can help us. We can’t put anyone in danger like that again.” He stepped out onto the streets, blending in with the pedestrians. “We can – _fuck_.” He had been a goddamn trophy wife for years on end, and a fucking seal before that, how the hell was he supposed to know what to do?

Venom slid down Eddie’s arm, wrapping himself around the back of Eddie’s neck, like a scarf. That slight movement, the feeling of Venom’s presence, was instantly relaxing, clearing out Eddie’s head of some of his doubts.

“We should call Dr. Skirth first,” Eddie said, slipping into a convenience store. “We should warn her.”

Somehow, the woman working the register was kind enough to lend him a phone. Eddie called Dr. Skirth, quickly summarized what was going on, told her to talk to Anne, and warned her to stay safe.

“You too, Eddie,” she said when he had trailed off into silence. “And your friend, too.”

Eddie hung up and gave the phone back to the cashier with a “Thank you,” heading back out onto the streets.

 **Eddie** , Venom said.

“Yeah?”

**What the doctor said…**

“What about it?”

**What are we?**

Eddie almost tripped over his own feet. “God, Venom,” he said, “we met, like yesterday. We’re sharing a body. We’re on the run from my husband. We can’t-” He shook his head. “We’re not doing this right now.”

Venom was quiet.

 **Alright,**  he said, finally. **What are we doing?**

Eddie stuffed his hands into the pockets of his sweatshirt. The thing was...he had no idea. He was wandering aimlessly, for the most part, and he didn’t know anyone other than Anne and Dr. Skirth who could help. And he couldn’t do this to them.

“I don’t know,” he admitted. “There’s nowhere for us to go.”

Venom seemed to sense his confusion and how he was wavering.

 **Drake** , Venom offered, slightly cautious.

“Drake? We can’t-” Eddie stopped in the middle of the street, causing the man behind them to bump into them and curse. “Drake,” he repeated. “We go to Drake.”

**We go to Drake, then. And we end this.**

-

Drake’s mansion was in the middle of nowhere, a few miles out from any other civilization. It would take a while for them to get there, even with the help of Venom.

“We have to,” Eddie muttered under his breath as they wound through the forest, more to himself than Venom.

 **We have to,** Venom said, his voice nearly boiling over with hate. **Look what he did to us. To me. To you. He doesn’t get to do that. You’re mine.**

The word felt like the final blow of a chisel, used against something that had already been cracked and broken.

“I’m not yours,” Eddie snapped. “I’m not anyone’s.”

Venom fell silent.

 **You are right, Eddie,** he said finally. **I’m sorry. Should not have…**

“I know,” Eddie said. He sighed. “Venom, with Drake…” He grappled for the words to say. Eddie had been left alone, for the most part, but it had been a gilded cage, and the bars were Carlton Drake. Every morning when he woke up, every night before going to bed, he was reminded of just how trapped he was. How much Drake owned him. There was no escape.

“I can’t be anyone’s,” Eddie said. “Except my own.” Venom, of all people, of all sentient beings, should -

**I do understand, Eddie.**

The words were said softly, or as softly as Venom could speak, spilling over with empathy and a push of _yesyesIgetit_.

 **Heads up,** Venom said after a moment.

The mansion loomed ahead of them. After this, hopefully Eddie would never have to see it again.

“Into the belly of the beast,” Eddie said.

-

Eddie and Venom landed on the floor with a spray of glass, a quick flash of satisfaction sparking in Eddie as the force of it cracked the smooth wooden floors.

Drake was still beautiful. Even now, looking at him, eyes wide in surprise, lips parted and wet, it was easy to remember why Eddie, in his darkest hours, breath caught in Drake’s bare chest and ignoring the ache between his legs, thought he could maybe, just maybe love him.

When Drake had enough time to process their sudden appearance, his expression had morphed, his mouth twisted downwards and eyes squinted into a sneer as he sprang backwards to avoid being hurt by the debris.

“Eddie,” he said. His voice was carefully neutral, the way it would be when he was displeased by something Eddie had done but trying not to show it. Eddie knew it well.

 **“Drake.”** Even while their voice was modulated with Venom’s deeper tones and richer bass, Eddie could still feel it trembling.

“After all these years, it’s a pleasure to see you finally active and about,” Drake said finally. Like he had been a pet hamster, there only for Drake to look at and toy with. “There were tales, you know, of your kind’s great beauty and intellect in your human forms, how you could talk circles around the best and brightest and stop a sailor in his tracks with your looks.”

Drake’s eyes scanned them up and down, a purposeful, calculated look that had Venom clenching their claws tighter.

“Shame the real thing turned out to be so pitiable. Sailors have such wild imaginations.”

Venom’s anger nearly blocked out Eddie’s consciousness entirely, rushing up in a huge wave of violent emotion. Venom lunged them forward, grabbing at Drake’s neck and lifting him off the floor, slamming him onto the wall of the room and cracking the drywall. Drake’s feet swung a foot off the ground, but he did nothing but raise his hands to where they held his neck and lift an eyebrow, face still maddeningly calm and polite.

“Nothing but beasts in the end,” Drake said.

Venom opened their mouth, revealing their rows and rows of teeth.

Drake flinched back minutely, though he quickly reverted to his unfazed expression. However, Venom, catching the movement, stretched their grin out further, manifesting another row of teeth just for the hell of it.

Eddie would be lying if he didn’t feel a rush of sick pleasure at seeing Drake like this.

“We don’t want to hurt you,” Eddie said. “We just want you to promise to stop doing your experiments. Stick to rocket science.” When Drake didn’t respond, only grabbing a little harder onto their arm, Eddie said, softer, “Carlton.”

Drake’s eyes darted from their gaping maw to the wreck of the room to their eyes. “Fine,” he choked out. “Let me go.”

They stepped back, releasing Drake from their claws. Drake hit the floor with a heavy thump, collapsing onto the floor on his knees. He coughed, thumping his chest with his fist and trying to catch his breath.

 **Drake is weak** , Venom growled. **A coward. Should eat him for our troubles.**

 _Yes,_  Eddie thought. _We should._

**Then why don’t we?**

Because Eddie was weak. Because he was weak, and he had spent years and years with Drake as his only company, and he couldn’t bear to destroy the only familiar thing he once had on this goddamn planet. Because he was a coward, and he was everything Drake had ever said about him over the years.

“We can’t,” Eddie said out loud, his own voice soft and quiet compared to Venom’s. “I can’t.”

Eddie’s head was spinning. He stepped back, Venom retreating back into his body. Venom twirled himself around Eddie’s stomach, a cool presence that reminded Eddie that he was there, that he’d surround Eddie again if any danger came their way.

Drake sat up, still wheezing slightly but glaring up at the two of them. He crawled over to a nearby desk, somehow still undisturbed by the ruckus, and used it to help himself to his feet.

“You’re an idiot,” Drake said. “Both of you.” He had a dark look in his eyes. Eddie should’ve known better than to let him go like this. He should’ve known.

Drake reached under the desk, coming out with a jar, with something dark and swirling inside it, and smashed it on the ground.

Venom screamed as the glass shattered, a desperate screech resonating with pain that had Eddie staggering back.

In front of them, Drake climbed to his feet. Only – Eddie wasn’t sure if it was quite all Drake.

It was – it was a huge, hulking thing, with patches of fur and bright, swirling eyes amidst a chaotic grey form. It was something Eddie had only seen before as a reflection upon choppy saltwater waves – it was them, Venom and Eddie, but somehow irreparably wrong, bent and distorted into something monstrous.

“E _ddie,”_ it said, slick and smooth and so much of a distortion of how Venom sounded Eddie flinched back.

 **Eddie** , Venom said, voice like a cool balm next to Drake’s.

The thing that might’ve been Drake – the thing that pulsed and vibrated with uncanny life, as if risen from the dead – lunged forward, claws extended.

Venom covered Eddie immediately, throwing them backwards and out the window that they had come in from, landing on the rocks.

They clambered to their feet, Venom whispering into Eddie’s ear, **He stole that. Can feel it, Eddie. Me and you blended together in a way that doesn’t belong.**

They ran towards the sea, the only safe place that Eddie could think of. Behind them, Eddie could only hear screaming and screeching as Drake pursued them.

**Duck.**

Eddie did as Venom said, narrowly dodging a glob of something that shot past him. He spared a look back, seeing that the projectile had somehow been Drake’s _arm_.

 **Faster than us.** Venom had them dodge another extension of Drake’s limbs. They were coming faster, one after another and another the more Drake got used to them. Eddie’s heart was pounding in his ears in time with their feet hitting the ground, a quickening _thumpthumpthump_.

Eddie could see the horizon line of the water from where they were, could see where the cliff ended. It couldn’t have been more than 50 meters away. Drake was bigger, bulkier, they could outswim him surely in the water. A little more and they could –

Drake’s arms wrapped around their left leg.

A jerk, and they were flying backwards, body pulled in by Drake’s grasp. They landed on their back at Drake’s feet.

Eddie looked up at Drake through Venom’s eyes, at the tongue flicking in and out of his mouth, his crooked, jagged teeth, the way he hissed and spat at them. And the strangest thing – Eddie wasn’t afraid. Not with Venom. Not like this. He thought, _Oh._ _You’re so lonely_. Venom was screaming obscenities in Eddie’s mind. He was angry, Eddie knew, not just for himself but for Eddie too. And with good reason; Drake had picked them apart and taken what he believed were the good parts – the power. None of the feeling, the thought, the freedom.

“You are _mine_ ,” Drake growled. He grabbed hold of the edge of Venom’s mouth, yanking to one side. The resulting pain was excruciating – like Eddie’s flesh was being torn apart while his mind was being flayed.

But Venom was holding on. Eddie was holding onto Venom. They wouldn’t – couldn’t – let each other go.

 **Eddie** , Venom said, clear and loud in Eddie’s mind.

As one, they reached up, fighting through the pain, tightened their grip on Drake’s skin, and pulled.

There was a sound like a soft sigh. And just like that, Drake fell apart under their hands, all the rage and anger and hatred too much for the already unstable form. Eddie’s pain subsided, leaving behind nothing but the ghost of an ache, barely there and then nothing at all.

There was a seal on the ground in front of them.

The seal had bright, intelligent eyes. Human eyes, incongruous with the otherwise normal body.

Eddie didn’t know what Drake had done to his own body, what experiments were conducted on Eddie’s sealskin to make Drake like this now that the Venom parts of him were torn off, but at this point, it didn’t really matter.

Eddie knelt down, Venom retreating into his body as he did so. He stretched his hand out, brushing against the cool leathery flank of the seal before it flinched away.  

“Carlton,” Eddie said. Venom reemerged, wound around his stomach, squeezing gently to comfort. Eddie placed one hand on his stomach just to feel the presence of Venom.

The seal looked at him, barked once. Eddie didn’t know if there was anything left of Drake in there, or if it was just a bundle of raw instinct, operating on fear and leftover disgust. Eddie didn’t care.

“Venom,” Eddie said quietly, “let’s take him to the water.”  

They dropped Drake down on the shore, watching him squirming in the sand as he headed straight into the water and disappeared into the deep black waves. The sky was dark today, moonless. Nothing but the stars, flickering on and off.

They stood there, long after Drake had gone.

 **He is gone,** Venom said, breaking the silence.

“No,” Eddie said. “No, he’s not.”

The tide came in and out, an inexorable push and pull.

Venom emerged from Eddie’s sleeve, winding around and around Eddie’s hand. An offering. Something to hold on to.

Eddie squeezed, once, just to feel Venom against his skin.

An acknowledgement.

-

 **Don’t like this** , Venom said.

Eddie grimaced. _We have to do this_ , he thought to Venom. _It’s unavoidable._

He felt Venom’s disgust through their bond, his fear and his apprehension.

Eddie bit into a forkful of vegetables. Venom damn near spat it right back out, but Eddie swallowed and leveled a smile at their companion.

“Venom has a thing about things that aren’t freshly bloodied,” Eddie explained. “And by a thing, I mean that he won’t eat it.”

They were at a small cafe, the three of them - Eddie, Venom, and Dr. Skirth - sat around a small table and nursing cups of coffee. In this company, soothed by Eddie’s impressions of her, Eddie and Venom felt safe enough for Venom to risk manifesting a tendril to wrap around Eddie’s arms and hands. They liked the physical reminder of their bond, a steady calming reassurance. They would need it. A long day ahead.

Dr. Skirth - “Dora, please” - leaned forward on the table, eyes wide. “Drake only turned to selkie-human trials after the human ones didn’t work,” she said, half to herself. “The ones with your - with the skin, they seemed more stable, but nothing on your level, Eddie.”

 **Half-concocted creations,** Venom hissed. **Shadows of a thing expected to become whole.**

 _Nothing like us_ , Eddie agreed. Out loud, he said, “They are more stable, and they’re - they’re fine. We’re going to be keeping an eye on them.” He finished off the small salad he had gotten and pushed his plate aside. He tucked the manila folder that was on the table into his jacket.

Dora stared down at her coffee cup, swirling it around. “Eddie and - Venom. I’m sorry. I wouldn’t have - not if I had known.”

Venom solidified into a face - eyes and mouth and tongue extending from Eddie’s skin. **“Don’t blame you,”** he said. **“Came to Eddie, in the end.”**

When the look on Dora’s face didn’t abate, Eddie said, “Venom’s right. If it wasn’t for you, Venom would still be in that lab, and the victims would be cut apart to pieces, and I-” He broke off. “Thank you, Dora.” And the thanks was sincere. Eddie had felt helpless, all those years, and Dora had given him the tools he needed. The rest followed.

“It’s something I should’ve done long ago,” Dora said, shaking her head. But she was smiling anyway.

They finished their coffee. Dora foot the bill, insisting that Eddie didn’t need to use the money from his dwindling savings to pay for a measly meal.

The financial issue was more complicated than that, with Drake being officially missing and unofficially presumed dead, and the problem of all the accounts falling into a mess of a legal tangle. Simply put, Eddie Drake, the forlorn husband that technically didn’t exist a decade earlier, was reduced to the bundles of cash he was able to take from the mansion before that too was confiscated. Eddie wasn’t concerned about it though, and Venom even less so.

As they stood up, Dora put her hand on Eddie’s arm, right where Venom was. “Good luck, you two,” she said.

Venom popped out once more. **“Won’t need it,”** he said, so confident Eddie almost laughed out loud.

When they parted ways, they went in opposite directions, Dora to her car and Eddie and Venom down the sidewalk.

Eddie’s phone dinged. Venom fished it out for him, staring at the notification. **From Anne.**

Eddie took the phone and called her back. “Hey, Anne,” he said. “How are you?” Venom crawled to just under Eddie’s ear, where he could listen in.

He could practically hear the eyeroll in her voice as she said, “Drake’s people have finally cleared out of my place. How are you?”

 **“Good,”** Venom said into the microphone. He liked Anne, a fact that Eddie was inexplicably glad about.

“Eddie, Venom,” Anne said, “there’s still a lot of legalese to clear out from Drake. And if I dig deeper, the sketchiness of your past becomes more and more apparent. Drake’s good, but he can’t stand up against a group of highly experienced lawyers.”

“They won’t,” Eddie said. “They know what we - what I have on him. That’ll be enough.”

For once, Anne was the skeptical one next to Eddie’s reassuring attitude. But Eddie wasn’t scared. Not of this.

As they walked, they chatted with Anne - about important things, about Drake and what Eddie would do now and how Anne and her boyfriend were taking everything, and about banal things, about a movie Anne wanted Eddie to see after realizing that he’d only seen the dreary films that Drake watched only to seem intelligent, about how Venom had taken a liking to chocolate. Venom was practically purring with delight in describing how Eddie had finally let him try a seagull after a long, boring meeting with the banks.

“Hey, Anne, we’re here,” Eddie said at the end of it.

 **“Talk to you tomorrow,”** Venom said. He was getting better at small talk, which Eddie was dutifully coaching him through.

“Stay safe,” Anne said.

They had walked all the way to the shore, to a small hidden cove nestled between the cliffs.

As Eddie stepped into the shadow of the cove, he heard the distinct sound of seals barking. He took at the folder again, flipped it open to see the files.

The first one to make it to shore was the one that was the most seal like, with only a strangely shaped face as indication she was anything other than a normal seal.

Eddie flipped through the files, eyes averted from the horror and only focusing on the distinguishing photos and the names printed on top of each sheet of paper.

She climbed onto the beach, suddenly clumsy on land, and rushed to greet Eddie.

“Hey,” Eddie said. “Mary, right? Good to see you again.”

Mary cocked her head and barked.

 **She didn’t recognize it.** An edge of sorrow tinged Venom’s voice.

Eddie put a hand out, stroked Mary’s flank. She leaned into it. “Fucking - _Drake_ ,” he bit out, quiet as to not scare Mary off. Drake would be the ghost that would haunt them forever, it seemed. Everywhere Eddie went, everything he did, it would be stained slightly, twisted and marred. But he was free. He was free, and he had Venom, and Drake was gone.

Another made it onto the beach. Bigger than Mary, with darker patterns. More human, more symbiote, hands not quite fully formed into flippers with a deep black substance covering them. “Steve?” Eddie called out.

Steve looked up, something hopeful in his expression. He crawled closer.  

One by one, as they arrived, Eddie gave them their names back. Drake had taken enough.

They sat at the edge of the water, watching the tide come in and out, the sand shifting underneath their feet. The breeze carried the smell of saltwater. The sky was cloudless, nothing but an expanse of blue. Like this, their back to the beach, there could be no one else in the world. Just Eddie and Venom, taking in the landscape.

Venom was half covering Eddie’s body, legs and arms wrapped up in warm blackness. He’d formed a face so they could watch together.

 **Ready?** Venom rumbled.

Eddie stood for them, shaking their limbs out. “Yeah,” he said.

Venom covered Eddie fully. The feeling was an embrace. Like Eddie had spent spent so long lost and wandering, and only now can he stumble to warmth and kindness. Like coming home.

The water loomed stretched out in front of them. There was a whole world there, just beneath the tides.

“Ready,” Eddie said. He could feel Venom’s excitement, intermingled with his own. Venom was nervous, Eddie could tell. The last time they had done this, Eddie didn’t remember most of it, and they had been escaping with a group of ex-lab rats. This time -

**Want to do it right.**

“It’ll be right no matter what, V.”

They took a deep breath, Eddie and Venom, together, and they dived in.

 

**Author's Note:**

> thanks to the wonderful, amazing [natcat](https://archiveofourown.org/users/nat_cat/pseuds/nat_cat) and [strozzzi](https://archiveofourown.org/users/butmicoooool/pseuds/Strozzzi) for being irreplaceable betas and friends. <3 (also thanks to [tuesday](https://archiveofourown.org/users/tuesday) for pointing out some errors!)


End file.
